Austria to be first EU nation to stop refugee family reunification
From May, Austria will pause family reunifications for those with asylum status
Austria announced on Wednesday that it would pause family reunifications for those with asylum status from May, becoming the first in the European Union to do so.
Several EU countries are mulling stopping or tightening the right for people, who cannot safely return to their home countries, to bring their families. But so far, no bloc member has a complete halt in place.
Austria has already halted family reunification for Syrians since the ouster of Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad last December, arguing it has to reassess the situation, and it is threatening their deportation.
Syrians make up the bulk of family reunifications, but a newly formed conservative-led government – under pressure with anti-immigration sentiment high – has insisted that it needs to stop all.
Integration Minister Claudia Plakolm said the government would make a legal change to allow the interior ministry to issue a decree to halt family reunification.
“By May, so in just a few weeks, the stop is expected to become reality,” Plakolm of the conservative People’s Party (OeVP) told reporters.
“On one hand, our systems have reached their limits and, on the other hand, the probability of successful integration decreases massively with each new arrival,” she added.